Newcastle United have been forced to cancel their end-of-season awards dinner in light of the losing run which has left them in serious danger of relegation to the Championship.

The party – scheduled for next Wednesday in one of the suites at St James' Park – has been scrapped by club hierarchy who are conscious of the message it will send to disenchanted supporters.

Indeed, John Carver's side – who lost eight on the spin before last Saturday's 1-1 draw at home to West Brom and are just one place above the drop zone – could be in the bottom three heading into the final round of fixtures should results go against them this weekend.

John Carver's Newcastle are facing relegation from the Premier League and have cancelled their awards night

An awards dinner had been planned for the squad, pictured in training on Thursday, but it has been cancelled

Tickets had already been sold for the event organised by the Newcastle United Foundation - the charity supported by the club – but they have now been told to inform those attending that the evening will not be taking place.

A club spokesperson confirmed: 'Newcastle United Football Club has made the very difficult decision that in view of the current league position, it would not be appropriate for the team and coaching staff to be celebrating the season and collecting awards at a time when our only focus is on the next two games and securing Premier League status.

Share this article

Share

118 shares

'The club would like to extend its apologies for any inconvenience caused to those businesses who had purchased tables to support the event, but we hope that you can appreciate our decision has not been taken lightly. The club will work with the Foundation to find another opportunity to support them to raise funds for their outstanding work, which engages with over 50,000 people in our community.' Meanwhile, Carver says he wants his own future determined one way or another within 72 hours of the season finishing on May 24.

The head coach – who has won just two games since taking over from Alan Pardew in January – goes on holiday three days after the curtain call.

Carver, who has won just two games since taking over from Alan Pardew, is unlikely to get the job full-time

Carver is unlikely to win the job on a permanent basis – regardless of which division they'll be playing in next season – but he still holds hope of being kept on.

'Because I have the job, they have to take it off me now,' he said.

'But there has been nothing discussed. We have just focused on these two games.

'I am going away on holiday on the Wednesday after the West Ham game so I would like to know where I am by then. 'But I want no discussions from now until the West Ham game is finished. I don' t think it's right, I think it's important we have to keep all our focus on these games.' Carver's pride and reputation have taken a serious hit amid the sorry sequence of results which ranked as the club's worst in 38 years.

Newcastle admitted they didn't want to celebrate their season with Premier League status still in doubt

The 50-year-old, however, insists that fortune has conspired against him.

'Because of the circumstances I would love to see how anyone else would react,' he said when pressed on the damage to his reputation.

'I spoke to Tony Pulis after the game on Saturday and he said it was quite incredible what I'd had to put up with regarding injuries and suspensions.

'That is bad luck. It is not mismanagement by the club. I had enough players. At one stage I had a full team missing. Our squad of 26 is not a bad size – not many people have 11 players missing at one time.

'But my pride has been hurt by the run of results. I want to do something about it in these last two games.'